Babbysitting C kentuckiense seedlings

[SlipperKing]

I volunteered to babysit 10 seedlings of C kentuckiense this summer like many others from my society are doing. Doug Harris, HOS member is spear heading a conservation project for the Texas "Big Thicket" area. The idea is to increase the number of pockets of kentuckiense in the overall area. We were all given 10 seedlings to grow through the summer, record growth info, take pictures etc. Whatever plants survive members "culture techniques" will be turned back in to rest for the winter then returned back to us for another season. At some point they will go to their new home in the "Big Thicket". One of the bonuses from this will be one plant for every five I can keep alive and growing, I get to keep. As the summer moves along plants maybe moved a round if some members can't keep up with them and I may have more. But again, I may have to pass mine on!

Here they are so far.

 

[Hien]

A definitely worthy project and better than anything CITES peoples can come up with.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

They look good so far. It should be interesting to see how they fair once the true summer heat kicks in. How are you growing them?

 

[SlipperKing]

Well as you can see by the tag their in 2 parts sponage rock and 1 part compost (I don't know what that is), this is how I got them. Low light, on the bottom bench close to the floor. I water them with the same rain water plus fertizer as all the rest. The N is 125ppm. That's about every 2-3 days. I got them at the last HOS meeting, the first Thur so tomorrow will be one month. They have come up 2.5-3 inches in that month. The parent plants are 150 to 200 miles NE of where I live. A park ranger and Doug have been following the plants colony for some time, pollenated a lot of them , harvested a few of the capsules and sent them to the lab. This is what we got back so far to carry on the process.

 

[NYEric]

Make sure thrips and gnats don't get in them, that's how I lost some last year.

 

[biothanasis]

Good luck...

 

[P-chan]

They're so cute! Good luck with them. What a great project! Do you get to choose which one(s) you keep?

 

[fundulopanchax]

Hi, Great project!

I have raised a number of kentuckiense seedlings to date (first blooms from my first seedlings early next week! - they've been growing since 2004). I have found that young kentuckiense really dont like compost at all - be careful with it. They are very susceptible to rot and fungus gnats and compost accelerates both. I grow mine in 50% perlite:50% sand or in 50% Soil Perfector:50% turface. Both of these dramatically decreased mortality for me.

The best quality kentuckiense I have seen (my breeding stock originates with them) are from Hillside Nursery in Massachusetts. They grow in 50% sand:50% pine bark chips.

Good luck!

Ron

 

[goldenrose]

:clap: What a great project! Good luck! :clap:

 

[Mrs. Paph]

Yeah, cool project! As the summer progresses, could you give me an idea of your ave. high temps and how the plants are taking it? I'm contemplating Cyps that might grow outdoors where I'm at now (near Tulsa OK), and this species seems to range fairly far south, but I guess at least some of the areas are at higher elevation, and not necessarily as warm as the temps I'll have here.